Days Of Fire
by crossofmadness
Summary: Commissar Livius Quintarius fights with the Tempestus 54th, a regiment defending their homeworld from the Ork hordes in the futuristic universe of the 41st millenium. He finds himself overwhelmed, however backup is on it's way. Multi-chapter story.
1. Chapter I Defense of Pax Tempestus

Commissar Livius Quintarius fired off a volley from his laspistol, a headshot taking down the Ork charging him. As the body fell away, Livius saw the second charging Ork. With little time to reload, he swung his chain sword in a wide arc, cutting down below the collar bone of the Ork and following through. The resulting cut tore part of the Ork's body off. The body fell down to the ground, on its knees, spraying blood. Livius took a few steps back, nearly stumbling over some rubble. He slammed a fresh power cell into his laspistol and prepared to kill some more Orks.  
  
Livius felt the stone beneath his well-worn boots, reflecting momentarily on how he got into this mess. The tall man of 6'3, with short brown hair and blue eyes, possessing very hawkish features, really didn't have that much time to reflect anyway. The Orks were coming, faster and faster, closer and closer. One of the recruits next to him was decapitated by an Ork wielding a massive axe. Livius brought the laspistol right next to the Ork's head, and took fire. He blew its brains out the left side of its head. Livius' unit was the Tempestus 54th Infantry, and they were on-you guessed it, planet Tempestus. Tempestus was an urban planet, nearing that stage where in but a few decades it would be a hive world. There were very few agricultural areas and the planet was mostly city.  
  
Livius found himself in the capital city right now, Pax Tempestus. Pax Tempestus was a sprawling city, with your average amount of slums and a few high rise apartment complexes for the wealthy and semi-wealthy to live in. Right now, they were there. In the middle of a street, with burnt out apartment buildings surrounding them, the 54th Tempestus Infantry was facing some hard times right now, as the Orks that had invaded their planet were now about to take their capital city. Livius was a new Commissar as well, newly appointed to the 54th Tempestus.  
  
One of the troopers at his side broke the organized, fighting retreat and began running away screaming as the massive Ork forces down the street closed in. Livius turned ands hot him in the back of the head, his aim very proficient. He looked over to is left, seeing a burnt out apartment building with a huge space where a window used to be on the first and only floor of it.  
  
He had an idea.  
  
And he had his orders.  
  
There was no retreat. Livius cried out to his men, grabbing the standard of the 54th Tempestus from the ground next to him and raising it, waving it in the air. His chainsword put away first, to give him a free hand. "Not one step backwards! Glorious soldiers of the Imperium we will not retreat! You will not surrender your homeland!" He heard cries erupt about him, and the Imperium's soldiers for a moment stopped retreating. Livius motioned across the street to Konis, a newly appointed Captain in the regiment. He waved him over, and had to scream in his ear to get the message across to him, yelling above the din of battle. "Take a fire team and cover me and my men! Just look where I run to!"  
  
Konis nodded, running off. He assembled a few members of the regiment with lasguns. Livius looked over at the heavy repeating lasgun that some of his soldiers were manning, and had a support team with them to cover them. He ran over to them, and pointed to the gun, and then pointed to the big broken opens pace in that apartment building he had seen earlier. Blasting a few incoming Orks with his laspistol, Konis and men joined in. They covered the group of about eight soldiers as they all made a dash for the building, moving as fast as they could with the huge lasgun.  
  
When they arrived at the building, Livius had them open shop. They put the lasgun down, and placed it inside of the apartment building, with the barrel of the gun sticking out of the window. When the Orks ran to attack the front lines, they would be mowed down by the gun fire coming from the apartment, and from the gunfire from the front lines. The only place that would come under considerable Ork infestation then would be the right side of the street, opposite to where the apartment building was. Livius wondered when his Adeptus Astartes support would arrive. In the meantime, the guns began to blow apart Orks.  
  
For quite a few moments, the situation looked rather good. The 54th Tempestus soldiers saw the crossfire that was pounding the Orks and decided it was best to stay and fight, they stopped the retreat. Konis continued to provide support fire for the gun emplacement, picking off an Ork here or there. Then a Warchief ran down the street, the massive Ork was pointing hurriedly at the gun emplacement. Livius seemed to be busy with other Orks, and he wasn't going to notice. They were in danger. Konis muttered a prayer to the God-Emperor, and took out a grenade. Placing it in his pocket, he ran at the Warchief and tackled the huge beast to the ground, the grenade exploding. Both warriors were obliterated instantly. Livius did however; see the tank down the street snaking into his line of sight.  
  
He saw it just in time to jump out of the window as a shell was ejected from the tank, and smashed into the gun emplacement behind him, blowing him in the air further into the street. The Imperium's soldiers now began to panic; some dropped their weapons and broke into a run. Many let their comrades, staging daring defenses as their allies fled. And all through it, Livius laid. Half conscious, his vision fading, he looked up at the sky. Everyone did, and the fighting stopped momentarily, the Imperium soldiers stopping their retreat.  
  
Angels were coming out of the sky.  
Metal craft, upon closer inspection.  
Drop pods, of his Emperor's most holy Adeptus Astartes.  
The Angels of Vengeance were here, coming to save the faithful.  
Ave Imperator 


	2. Chapter II Angels of Vengeance

Ambrosius shuddered as his drop pod smashed into the tank turret, the same one that had fired on Livius' position but moments beforehand. Livius was at the moment incapacitated, but Ambrosius did not yet know who that was enough to care. Ambrosius was a tough, well-muscled man with short black hair and dark green eyes. Battle scars marred his somewhat handsome face, and a long scar traced along his cheek leading to his mouth. He was relatively new to actual Astartes field action, but that did not stop him from accepting his mission with no protest. Ambrosius' features were of course obscured by his red power armor, marking him a member of the Iron Fists, and more notably the Red Talons subchapter.  
  
The drop pod door opened, paving a small space for him to talk, and forming a nice groove in the crater of a tank that had been smashed by his entry into Tempestus' capital city. He fastened his bolter, and made sure that the gun had a full clip of ammunition in it. Nodding with satisfaction, the Space Marine stood to his full height and walked out into the war zone that awaited him. Other Space Marines, like himself were just now climbing out of their drop pods. The Orks were quite shocked by Ambrosius and the rest of his men just kind of dropping out of the sky like that. The Imperial Guardsmen used that to their advantage, the Tempestus 54th Infantry under Commissar Livius Quintarius was ready to fight again. Despite being at just above half strength, they were doing well and not running.  
  
Ambrosius hopped out of the pod and jumped down around the side of the tank. He took a few moments to collect himself; at one end of the street was a horde of Orks. At the other side, was a defensive group of Space Marines, regrouping with an ever increasing amount of Adeptus Astartes. The Astartes began firing their bolters, and inflicting massive damage upon the enemy. Ambrosius would have to find a way to make it over to the guardsmen, he took a moment to reflect upon the only other battlefield experience he had.  
  
That had been on Kosav V, where the Red Talons had been sent to wipe out a large Chaos Cult that one Inquisitor and his entourage needed backup in dealing with. There had been Chaos Space Marines there, from the blasphemer chapter of the Thousand Sons. Cries of "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" and "DEATH TO THE CORPSE EMPEROR" had filled the air as Ambrosius had fought in the bloody fields of the agricultural world. There would be time to reflect on the actual events in more detail, once this little mess was taken care of. He took a deep breath, and made a ran for the burnt out apartment building the destroyed tank had been firing at.  
  
He fired as he ran, and dove backwards to hit the pavement, an Ork's shot flying just above the helmet of his power suit. He skidded as he landed, and groaned at the impact. He looked over to his right, and there was a limp figure, unconscious, dressed in the outfit of a Commissar. Clutched in his hand was a laspistol, and behind him was the repeating lasgun that had been maiming Ork forces. Many Orks lay dead in the machine's line of fire.  
  
There were bodies hanging around the area where the lasgun was, and it seemed this Commissar was the only survivor. He took his body and slung it over the massive shoulder of his even more massive power suit. He extended his bolter with one hand, which was kind of dangerous and ran for the Imperial lines, sending an entire clip at the Orks, nailing a few in the chest and blowing another one's arm off. The Orks had been in close combat, and the fighting to get them away had been fierce. Now it was they were engaged in a fighting retreat. The Astartes were doing what they could to make sure that no Ork took one step closer. Red armor soon covered in blood.  
  
Ambrosius rejoined his chapter brothers, dropping the Commissar wordlessly next to the highest ranking guardsmen he could find, a colonel. He was bald, with no facial hair and he had a young look to him. Most of his visible body was covered in tattoos, but of course that was hard to see with the imperial uniform on and all. He looked oddly at Ambrosius and then just kind of nodded thanks, before turning his lasgun back upon the enemy. To the right of Ambrosius, an Astartes fell. His helmet had been blasted right off of his shoulders, and his head had gone with it. He saw what had fired the massive beam of energy that had done that deed.  
  
It was cannon, being pulled by a few Orks. Had that shot been a little lower, it would have hit multiple targets. They were going to have to do something about that, anything really. He looked over at a few of his chapter brothers, and noted their plasma weapons. He patted one on the shoulder, and hurriedly pointed to the cannon. The Astartes only nodded, and said nothing in his large powersuit. He aimed his large plasma weapon at the barrel of the cannon. A shot rang in the air, and the plasma beam flew at lightning speed, directly into the barrel. The cannon then exploded, moments later, taking about ten Orks in it. Ambrosius was actually amused to watch it.  
  
The Orks, with their trump card down decided it was best to turn tail and run. Bolter shells found their marks as Warchiefs scrambled to get their men back to fight. There was nothing to do really; the Adeptus Astartes put the fear of the God-Emperor into them. Ambrosius took his helmet off when the last of the Orks had been chased off, and looked around at the carnage. The street and most of the buildings were defiantly destroyed. Tons of guardsmen lay dead, but even more Orks did. This regiment was reduced to just less than half strength now, by the end of the fighting. That was a lot of casualties for one day.  
  
The colonel he had seen earlier that day was walking over to him, the propped up Commissar on his shoulder. Livius looked up at Ambrosius, and extended a hand weakly. There was still life in him, but he was weak. Still a bit rattled form the explosion that had sent him flying so far. The colonel was bleeding from a cut to his head, and had a few bandages on his arms and legs. Nothing drastic was inflicted upon him, or so it seemed. Livius stood on his own, weakly. He nodded to Ambrosius. "Colonel Lovan tells me you were the one who pulled me away from the blast site?"  
  
At this Ambrosius nodded "Yes, I did. I believe I speak for all of the Adeptus Astartes of the Red Talons when I say that we are glad to have been here to help. For the Emperor!"  
  
The Commissar smiled, Livius extended a hand, and Ambrosius made sure not to squeeze his hand too tight. "Commissar Livius of the Tempestus 54th Infantry, at your service."  
  
"Ambrosius, of the Adeptus Astartes Iron Fists chapter, Red Talons subchapter."  
  
Both men released each other's hands, and then it was Livius who spoke first, pulling out a dataslate "I've lost around half of my men, we need to recover the next few blocks and establish a perimeter. You are to help with this objective apparently." Despite the seriousness of his words, he had a jovial smile on his face. Happy to be alive, that was Livius.  
  
Ambrosius cracked a smile at this, and nodded. "The Emperor protects, and so do we. The captain is making preparations I'm sure, I'm not of sufficient rank to tell you what exactly we can provide but I assume we'll be the first in when the operation begins. It was a pleasure meeting you Commissar, see you on the frontlines."  
  
Livius nodded and waved to Ambrosius after he turned to leave, and looked back at the colonel. They began making preparations, and marks on the dataslate. Things were going according to plan, sort of. The Adeptus had arrived too late to save most of his men, but a regiment of half strength and a good number of Astartes would even up the odds against the Orks. There were about forty Red Talons with him and his men there, only two or so had fallen. That was a good never, especially for a subchapter's resources. Commissar Livius turned and walked back to his men, preparing for the assault to come. 


	3. Chapter III Let Slip the Dogs of War

Ambrosius and his Red Talon chapter brothers relaxed in the aftermath of the battle. The operation wasn't going to begin for quite a few hours, so they certainly had time to meditate on the earlier events of the day, which were quite good for the most of them. They had only lost two chapter brothers, and had pushed the Ork horde back. High command for both the Guardsmen and the local command for the Marines, wanted the next few blocks taken and a perimeter established. It didn't seem all that hard.  
  
Of course it would be. The Orks were firmly entrenched in the buildings that housed those blocks. They were in the wealthy center at the moment, and they would need to take them out one by one in order to secure those blocks. Then they would have to establish a guard on every street corner, and seal up the backs of buildings to make sure nothing would get in or out. It was going to be a fun few days.  
  
The Orks might also be prepared for an Astartes presence, which was a rather scary idea for Ambrosius. However, he doubted it. Orks were never very smart Xenos as it was, and they wouldn't be prepared to anticipate anything above your ordinary guardsmen. Livius would be already, a medicae was dealing with him. Ambrosius didn't care that much about the Commissar, but he seemed like a good leader. He put himself out there, as a leader should. As any Space Marine would in such a situation.  
  
At the moment, he was taking the time to think about the situation with Chaos he had encountered a few months back. That incident was the first that he had been assigned to, and it was nerve-wracking until he had found the righteous fury that enabled him to smite the enemies of the most divine God-Emperor.  
  
His unit and he had arrived on the planet, and all had seemed well really. They had met up with the Inquisitor, a stocky little man of around 5'3, with grubby brown hair and dark brooding eyes. Despite the fact that he was dead now, he wasn't a very pleasant person in the first place. Very few inquisitors were ever pleasant people. Novistius was his name, and the Inquisitor instructed them on where to go to find this cult. It seemed that the forces of Chaos had abducted the Emperor, and were currently breaking him.  
  
It was an agricultural planet, and Ambrosius wondered why the forces of Chaos had found it a target that appealed to them. Something about the innocence, the nice orderly life of a people who grew food for others, day in and day out must have drawn the evil. Ambrosius had been sent down with the rest of his chapter brothers, into the burial catacombs underneath the capital city of Lasava. They were primitive burial institutions for the wealthy and the rich.  
  
Ambrosius and his men marched through, until they came to the central burial chamber. It was huge, monastic in architectural origin. A high dome was above the large room, and obscenities against the Emperor were drawn on the walls, in the governor's blood. The governor's body was prostrated in a rather immodest fashion in the center of the room, apparently the only way to break him had been to kill him.  
  
Voices had invaded the heads of the Space Marines. "GODS OF SLAUGHTER BE PRIASED!" and they were subjected to various other blasphemies and heresies against the divine God-Emperor. Ambrosius and his chapter brothers were then ambushed by a sorcerer of Chaos and the Chaos Space Marines of the Thousand Sons heretic chapter.  
  
They fought for hours, and many a brave Red Talon fell to the demonic bolters of the enemies. But the catacombs were purged, however the Inquisitor was killed in the fighting. He died in a spectacular show of power against the Chaos Sorcerer, but despite the victory Ambrosius had taken home a few scars, and with it a rather traumatic event for a new member of the Astartes. Everyone was getting ready to go on their night raid, and Ambrosius checked his equipment yet again....  
  
Livius was making similar preparations. The bald colonel from earlier was walking and talking with him back on the street. Lovan was showing Livius, who still sported a small limp dataslates of the projected enemy, the battle plan, and how many forces they would have allocated to them for the mission. The 40th Tempestus Infantry would be converging on the series of blocks next to them, and had already begun starting operations. Many of the forces from their sector might be moved to support the defense against the 40th, which was a rather fresh regiment and still had most of its men.  
  
Livius decided not to give some big morale boosting Commissarial speech. The men were just glad to be alive right now, and had certainly earned that right. They were all preparing, mentally and physically. He watched them, bloodied and battered some fresh. They were ready to die at any moment, like Konin, for the God-Emperor who had given them life. The Orks would be in for one hell of a fight, Livius thought as he slammed a fresh power cell into his laspistol, and cried. "GET UP! IT'S GO TIME! GOD- EMPEROR BE PRAISED! LET'S BLAST THESE ORK DOGS ALL THE WAY TO THE GOLDEN THRONE!" Okay, so he was going to give a little speech. 


	4. Chapter IV Operation Counterstrike

Blood splattered all over Ambrosius as his sword cut out of the stomach of the Ork that he was currently disemboweling. The beast howled in rage, before it ceased to live, cut nearly in half. A fountain of blood soon cascaded down upon the Space Marine who had so deftly defeated his adversary.  
  
The Orks had been in for a nasty surprise, the Imperium's counter attack had gone off flawlessly, so far. Ambrosius and his Red Talons chapter brothers were deep into block 72B of a sector, and were at the moment in close combat with the Orks. However, more Orks were coming their way, it would be a long day yet.  
  
Ambrosius' squad was gaining ground, and very few Astartes were actually paying for it. The iron fist banner was held aloof by Titus Longinius, the Chaplain. His eyes blazed with fury as his other hand brought down a hammer upon the head of an Ork, squashing it. It was then that Ambrosius spotted danger.  
  
Coming down behind them, spilling from buildings that they were hiding in, in areas where the Space Marines thought they had consolidated territory, came the Orks. They rushed, ranting and raving out of the houses. A few Space Marines not sorely pressed by the mass of a few hundred Orks coming from their front turned and unleashed death with their bolters. Titus and two Space Marines were up to their heels in greenskins, and an axe cleaved into Titus' shoulder. Blood flew into the air and he fell down, screaming. His chapter brother unloaded a bolter round into the Ork's head, killing it.  
  
And then autocannon fire ripped into the backs of the flanking Orks, maiming many of them. Four hydras, with Salamander escort drove down the street. Ambrosius grinned, and continued cleaving through the Orks as the battered city once more had its Imperial defenders at the ready.  
  
The fight was taking place on a worn down street, as was much of the fighting for the planet. Buildings were torn and had holes in them, with windows and drapes practically non-existent. Most of the human beings who had lived in these high rise apartments were evacuated, or evacuated themselves when it was clear the Orks would be coming to their little planet.  
  
The Hydras stopped, Salamanders covering them as the backs of the Hydras dropped out, men preparing to leave off of a metal ramp that hit the ground with a most definite thud. Livius Quintarius, Commissar of the Tempestus 54th jumped out of the first Hydra, he gathered the veterans he had handpicked to go into the vehicle with him, and jostled them with a fever pitch. The pincer was reversed. The Tempestus 54th had joined the fight.  
  
Lasfire en masse began to rain down on the Orks who were heavily engaged with the Astartes. The Astartes really didn't care much for this either, and a plan of action was set into motion. Ambrosius saw the standard of the Red Talons lying on the ground, Titus the chaplain was on the ground, and the Red Talons next to him were busy blowing things away. Hefting his bolter, he blew a few Orks away from his body and ran over, grabbing the standard.  
  
Ambrosius lifted it high into the air, and shot his bolter in a wide overhead arc, charging those Orks who they had first been fighting in open combat. If they could break those lines, they could turn around and complete the reverse pincer. The Orks would have fire on them from two places at once. Space Marines and Imperial Guardsmen at both ends. His men saw the banner and screamed war-cries for the God-Emperor.  
  
"God-Emperor protects.", was all the Space Marine muttered as he charged past a few Orks, His bolter to the right side of his body blowing off one's head, his power sword singing into the air and slicing the one to his left. Within moments the charge was complete, and the Red Talons were on the other side of the Orks. The Orks were at this point very confused.  
  
It was then that the Space Marines turned and unleashed a great salvo of fire upon the Ork horde, maiming many. Blood saturated the ground on which it spilled; it would be a long cleanup. Lasguns flashed; there was very little actual aim from Livius and his forces, but they killed quite a few of the Orks.  
  
The battle seemed to be quite won, and then Livius saw why the Orks were putting up such a stiff resistance. Off in the distance, far away down the street was a gun of epic proportions. An Ork war chief, still small in the distance was screaming and pointing every-which-way. The Commissar took up binoculars, and hopped into the gunner's position of a Salamander, after rudely removing the one who was already there. He looked down at the driver. "Drive straight for that thing."  
  
And the driver did as he was told, the Commissar voxing commands to other squads the whole way. The Space Marines saw what they were going for, and turned moving towards the massive gun on foot. Ambrosius looked over to his left, and the Red Talon chapter brother Augustus, who held an auspex. "How many are there Augustus?"  
  
The Marine replied, "A hundred at least. They really want to keep that gun safe, whatever it is."  
  
"Are any reinforcements in the buildings?"  
  
"I'm not sure; it's too early to tell. At this rate though the guardsmen will get there first."  
  
At this, Ambrosius picked up the pace. He raised his power sword above his head, and cut it down to signal the charge. The Salamanders whizzed past now, moving with incredible speeds as they raced towards the gun of epic proportions. This gun was huge. Stack three Salamanders together and here was your gun. It was on a raised metal platform, but seemed to exhibit a full range of movement.  
  
The barrel was enormous, about 15 meters in length. Apparently, this thing was made from a bunch of parts taken from other artillery type weapons, and melded together into a work of art really. But a Xenos work of art, which meant it, must be destroyed in the name of the God-Emperor and his Golden Throne.  
  
It proved its range of motion, by lowering from it's initial aim of well, the air, down to one of the approaching Salamanders. This was the vehicle to the opposite of Livius, and Livius watched in horror as a massive sound echoed into the air and a shell the size of three Space Marines rolled up in a ball hit the other Salamander, and sent a giant explosion into the air. The vehicle's armor had done nothing to stop it. Upon closer inspection, Livius saw wheels. That was how they moved the platform about.  
  
Livius opened fire with the autocannon on a few of the Orks milling about around the gun, getting it prepared for it's next shot. The vehicle stopped when they got two closes, and Livius jumped out. Orks shot at him, but he stayed on the other side of the vehicle. Ambrosius and his chapter brothers were coming up behind him, a few of them taking cover with him behind the vehicle. Ambrosius was one of them.  
  
Both men looked at each other and nodded in recognition, and the Space Marine took out a few grenades, rolling them around in his massive hand. He nodded to his own men, and bolted out of cover. Suppressing fire hit quite a few of the Orks surrounding the massive gun, but they missed the Ork at the controls on the back of the turret. He aimed the gun a little lower, and to the right.  
  
The barrel of the gun was trained on Ambrosius and his men.  
  
Not the place to be.  
  
However, the shell went a little too low as it fired from that massive barrel. It hit the ground in front of Ambrosius, but the impact of it caused a small crater and blew Ambrosius and his men back. Livius peeked around the vehicle he was hiding behind and picked off a few approaching Orks with his laspistol too distract them from the unconscious and barely conscious Space Marines. Ambrosius was on his feet fourth and began to run towards the gun. He had made it pretty much there when disaster struck.  
  
The warchief leapt around the gun, with his Axe high in the sky. He was about to send it crashing down on Ambrosius' head, crying out in primal fury. And then three laspistol rounds made quite the hole in the Ork's head. Ambrosius looked back quickly, as the body fell, and saw a smirking Livius blowing some smoke off of his laspistol.  
  
Ambrosius then went back to business, he ran up to the barrel of the massive gun, and armed all of the grenades in his possession, four. He sent them all rolling down the barrel, and screamed, "RUN!"  
  
Ambrosius heeded his own advice, and took off. All of his chapter mates got the message anyway, seeing what Ambrosius had done. They had suffered minimal casualties as the confused Orks wondered why the winning Space Marines were retreating. Everywhere, Imperial Guardsmen were setting up shop. In ruined balconies, on the ground, in between buildings they were firing upon the Ork host. As if to say, Get off my planet! The grenades exploded with a thunderous roar, metal and shrapnel flying everywhere. A piece of the barrel slammed right into his back, and he howled in pain as blood ran down the sharp metal, about a foot long. For the most part though, a good majority of the Imperium's soldiers were fine. There was plenty more land to take back for the Emperor however, but this block was secure. Ambrosius took a final look back at the gun, and saw the burnt out metal shell. He jogged back to Livius. 


End file.
